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Filipinos ‘well-suited’ for multicultural gains

June 21 2011 by
Adam Miller & Norm Miller, Baptist Press

PHOENIX – Filipino
Southern Baptist leaders met June 14 in Phoenix
to ramp up church planting efforts among the 3.2 million Filipinos living in
the United States
and Canada.

“We want to see the number of Filipino churches double,” said Roger Manao, president
of the Filipino Southern Baptist Fellowship of North America and pastor of
Philadelphia Bible Church International. “We have 200 churches, and we are not
doing enough. We have to do more.”

Manao said a strengthened emphasis among Southern Baptists toward reaching
cities has infused excitement into Filipino pastors who see great opportunity
among Filipinos to reach multicultural communities. Cultural understanding and
insight into city life among Filipino Christians, most of whom live in the urban
areas of the U.S.
and Canada,
make them a strong force in reaching population centers for church planting and
evangelism.

“We are well-suited for cross-cultural ministry because of our cultural
background,” Manao said. “We are multi-lingual, adaptive and accepting of other
cultures. These are all strengths we can be proud of and use when it comes to
partnerships with other ethnic groups.”

Photo by John Swain.

Southern Baptist Filipino leaders discussed church planting and evangelism among Filipinos in North America as well as cross cultural ministry mobilizing Filipino Southern Baptists whose culture, history and languages make them effective at reaching many cultures with the gospel. Ken Weathersby, the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) associate vice president for Multi-ethnic Church Mobilization, talked about the open door North America provides for reaching the nations for Christ.

Jeremy Sin, the North American Mission Board’s multiethnic team coordinator for
Asian people groups, encouraged the pastors to get mobilized through NAMB’s new
Send North America strategy for church planting.

“We at different times and at different places have been blessed by Southern
Baptists,” Sin said. “But we also have an opportunity to be a blessing – to see
ourselves as part of that same Kingdom work that God has done in our cultures
through Southern Baptists.”

Ken Weathersby, NAMB’s associate vice president for multi-ethnic work, said
Filipinos in North America have a great opportunity to
have an impact.

“God has given us an open door in North America,”
Weathersby said. “It’s an opportunity to make Christ’s name known, to encourage
the saints and to make disciples and new believers. It’s an opportunity to
plant churches.

“With Filipino churches mobilized to partner with Southern Baptists through
Send North America, our Filipino brothers and sisters will help us reach people
regardless of ethnicity or other barriers,” Weathersby said. “They have been
very effective and we expect even greater things as they continue to reach
across their culture and outside their culture.”

The Filipino fellowship, during its June 14 session at North
Phoenix Baptist Church,
reported on its own church planting project, the Asian Multiplication
Evangelical Network (AMEN).

“The aim of this year’s meeting is to educate and mobilize our Filipino pastors
and church members regarding AMEN,” said
Manao, chairman of the initiative which operates under the fellowship’s
umbrella. “I’m praying everyone will be challenged to get on board our Filipino
church planting movement.”

Created in 2010 by Filipino Southern Baptist pastors and NAMB, AMEN
is focused on nine of the most populated regions in the United
States, with “the objective to create church
planting and multiplication awareness, and with a goal of planting 30 churches
by 2021,” Manao said.

The Filipino Fellowship is comprised of 200 churches. The June 14 meeting drew
about 60 pastors and laypeople from nine states and Canada.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Adam Miller is a writer for the North American Mission Board;
Norm Miller is a writer based in Richmond, Va.)

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